Protector
by anonymouslyLabled
Summary: This is a stand-alone fic I wrote from Buffy's POV from when she's just a little girl to the time of the 7th season finale. This is about her first and last encounters with Spike. I added some stuff on that takes place right after the Chosen episode.


Disclaimer- I don't own Buffy or Spike. I just own a demented mind that thinks up these weird stories. ( Someday, I will own them though. You'll see. Muwahahahaha! *evil laughing* .Oh, by the way, sorry this is such a long stand-alone fic. I had this already written up and I was too lazy to format it into chapters. (*Shame on me!*)  
  
Protector  
AnonymouslyLabled  
  
He was my best friend. A lot of people said it was stupid, to have a best friend that didn't exist. But he did exist. Not many people saw him, though, because he couldn't go out in the sun during the day. That kind of destroyed every chance of him meeting my other friends, since they were only allowed out of the house until eight o'clock at night.  
The first time I met him was at night. I ran away from home because I was tired of the yelling. You'd think that grown-ups wouldn't scream as much as little kids like me. But my parents did. They would fight, and argue all the time. One night, I got tired of it, and I snuck out of the window in my bedroom. I ran and ran until I thought my legs were going to fall off. I had a watch on, but I couldn't tell time. By the looks of things around me, though, it must have been late night. Later than I had ever stayed up, eight-thirty, even. Still, it was a cold autumn evening and I didn't know my way around the neighborhood.  
I kept walking down the streets, I didn't know which direction my house was. I live in a big white house, with dark blue trim and a big tree out in the front yard. We have a big porch that I love to sit on. It's the perfect spot to get away from the arguments inside the house on a rainy day. I remember sitting out there watching the rain drop onto the grass, soaking it and washing away the bugs. I don't dislike bugs, no, they don't scare me or anything. I'm not really afraid of anything. Except hospitals. I really don't like hospitals, they give me the creeps. Once I was at one to visit my cousin, and it was horrible. Do you know what it's like to watch your own cousin die? I do. I was with her in the hospital room and we were talking. All of a sudden, she started to cough and scream. She was getting paler every second. Her face was white by the time I finally realized something was wrong. I went to get the doctor, but it was too late. I watched my cousin die.  
I started crying as I sat down on the sidewalk. I wanted to go home, even if it was to yelling and fighting. I wished my cousin were there with me. As I sat on the curb, I started getting very cold. It was chilly out, no doubt about that, but this was different. I had felt it before, too. I went to a place where they keep "dysfunctional people" as my mom told me. I was thinking they meant old people, but the people I saw there were different from what I thought. They weren't completely there. Like their bodies were here on earth, but their souls and minds were somewhere else. The people acted like they were trapped in a small, dark room, dank and musty. There must have been scary things in the room with them, evil things, because those people would scream and shout like there was no tomorrow. Or maybe for them, there really wasn't a tomorrow. I don't know, I couldn't talk to them. Sometimes they'd say things that didn't make any sense at all, even though some of them were grown-ups. One thing for sure was that I didn't like that place. Or the silly looking jackets with no arms that the doctors made the patients wear. It was an insane asylum. While I was there, I felt this odd, cold feeling. It was unlike anything I had ever felt. It was the same feeling I was getting while sitting on the curb. I remembered what it was. It made my skin tingle, like someone was tickling the back of my neck. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The whole sensation was caused by something my parents always told me never existed, always afraid to tell me existed; vampires.  
Some people call them bloodsuckers, others call them leeches. I think people are mean to vampires because they don't take the time to get to know them well enough. My parents probably don't believe in them because they're too afraid to admit that they're real. Vampires do walk the earth and nightmares can come true. They're not nightmares, though, no, more like dreams. I saw my first vampire at the asylum. The thing with demons like vampires is that you have to know the facts. Not all vampires are bad. But, that doesn't mean that some are. Good and evil only go as far as the mind takes it, really. What someone might call "evil" is what another might call "judgmental" or "misunderstood". It's all in how you look at things. To me it is, at least.  
As I continued crying, I could feel the cold creeping closer and heavier. It had made it more difficult to breathe, like I had been running long distances. The cold came to me in such a rush, it was almost as if my lungs were being frozen and constricted. I had to take deeper, yet shallow breaths. I didn't really care about the vampire.no.vampires that were approaching me, closer with every step of every second. My heart was pounding so hard and fast in my chest, I thought I'd burst. Not that having my heart practically in my throat helped my already-unsteady and complicated breathing, because it didn't. And then it hit me.not all vampires are bad. But, that doesn't mean that some are. Actually, many are. Many, many are. Oh, I was so stupid. I had to run home, hide from them. something!  
But I was too late. The second I got up from the curb, they started to advance on me. Three of them, all fangs and sinister. Their faces were slightly contorted, deformed one might even say. I knew what it was though; demonic. They all circled me, two boy vamps and a girl, fighting, fangy, mean faces set. I was scarred out of my mind. Everything that I had said about vampires being 'dreams' was slowly melting away, crushing the innocence in the back of my brain. Screaming at me for being so blind as to what evil the world really may hold. Trying to make me see that not everything on this earth is good and full of delight and innocence. No one ever really dies, that had been my point of view before that night. Those vampires stole my innocence.  
I tried to scream, not that it did much good. My voice was still caught in the back of my throat. When something finally made it out, it sounded more like a tiny, shrill little shriek. That only made the vampires attack me faster. One of the boy vampires grabbed my arm and picked me off the ground, just like that. I thought maybe my body would detach itself from my arm, that he was swinging me by as I helplessly and limply swayed back and forth. The other two vamps laughed menacingly. Then, suddenly, a figure appeared behind them and he had his mean face on too.  
I thought I was doomed. I closed my eyes as the vampire holding me quickly sank his fangs into my neck, painfully piercing my skin and letting my warm blood come forth into his mouth as he sucked. It hurt badly somewhere in the back of my mind, but for some reason, only in the back of my mind. I couldn't actually feel a thing, just a calming drowsiness coming upon me. It was very strange. But then when I was dropped to the cement ground, and opened my eyes, I could see the figure of the vampire that walked up behind the two evil-laughing vamps, and only him. Nothing else was in the moonlit street but colorful leaves and dust, both blowing around in the crisp wind. Had this vampire saved me? He smiled at me with a dazzling grin and said, "Don't be afraid." And I thought I was doomed.  
I slowly stood up, wincing as I realized the pain that shot through my neck, like a burn. It burned badly. "T-thank you for saving me," I said, still a bit groggy from the bite. And a little afraid.  
He half-smiled, then said, "No sweat, really." I noticed he had a.what do call it? An. accent. British, I think. My mom told me about them. As I watched him curiously, he went on. "Vampires don't sweat, you know. We don't even breathe. That's why some call us the living dead." He cocked his head to the side slightly, showing off his bleached blond hair to the glimmer of the moon's cast. The light also reflected into his blue eyes that glittered under the dancing stars. "What's your name?"  
I hesitated a little, then answered, "Buffy. Buffy Summers."  
He glanced around questioningly into the dark streets. "Well Buffy, where are your parents? Don't you think they're a bit worried, niblet?" He asked calmly.  
"My parents are at home," I answered truthfully. "I.I ran away."  
"Ran away, now, did you?" He sounded slightly amused by this.  
"Yeah," I replied, then quickly added, "What's your name?"  
He looked surprised at first, then finally said, "William. But some people call me Spike. You can if you want, kitten."  
"Spike," I repeated. "It's because you're tough, isn't it? You scarred away those other vampires to save me." I beamed at him.  
Spike chuckled. "Yeah, something like that." He looked around again. "So, you know about us, then? Vampires?"  
I nodded, finally taking notice of my bleeding neck for a bit. Spike looked at me holding my hand over the two fang marks. He bent down close to me and took hold of my hand so he could bring it away from the cut. When he touched me it felt like tiny fireworks went off on my skin; it was electric. Spike put his mouth to my neck at the blood flowing from the puncture. He gently sucked, not a lot, only a teeny bit, then pulled away and licked the wound softly. As he pulled back, mere centimeters from my neck, I shivered, and he noticed. He straightened up and ripped a small piece of his shirt off and put it on my cut. The blood was lessening.  
"Hold that there alright, Buffy?"  
"Okay," I said, applying pressure to it. That's what mom would do.  
Spike took me by the hand and we started walking down the obsidian streets. I was still very tired from running away from home and I trudged along after him, Spike practically having to pull me behind him. He turned to look at me right when I let a giant yawn slip my face.  
"You alright, niblet? Are you going to be able to make it?"  
"Uh-huh," I said, not really meaning it. I wanted to be strong, strong for Spike. I noticed he didn't have his mean face on anymore.  
Spike laughed lightly, then stopped walking, picked me up and spun around. It made me a little dizzy, but it was fun. When he stopped, he carefully put me down and started walking.  
"Why don't you try and walk now, niblet," he said in a laughing voice.  
I tried to walk, but every time I took more than one step, I felt too dizzy and light-headed to go on. It seemed the world was spinning all around me. The shades of what few colors were apparent at night were blending and swirling in a dance before my eyes. I couldn't walk any longer.  
"Spike," I said faintly.  
He walked over and kneeled beside me. "Yes, niblet? You want me to carry you the rest of the way?" He asked smoothly.  
I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Would you?"  
Spike nodded. "'O course." He replied. "You want a piggy back ride?" He seemed nervous asking this.  
"Yeah," I squealed. My smile had to be a mile wide.  
I climbed on his back and threw my hands around his neck. I noticed his skin was like frozen porcelain. He started walking and I told him where I lived. He headed toward my street. I was starting to feel very tired and became aware of how comfortable it was being carried. I don't think Spike was even getting tired yet. I laid my head down on his shoulder and immediately started to drift off to sleep.  
"Wake up, kitten, you're home. Buffy." Spike whispered in my ear. I woke up in Spike's arms. He must have carried me after I fell asleep. I looked up at him and smiled.  
"We're at your house, niblet. You ready to go back to your parents?" I shook my head.  
"I don't want to go back," I said with pleading eyes.  
"Why not?" Spike asked, trying to resist my expression.  
I paused a moment. "Because my parents fight. They argue a lot and I don't like it. That's why I ran away. Can't I stay with you?"  
"Afraid not." He looked at my disapproving stare. "I'll come and visit though. Or you could meet me somewhere out here sometime. What do you say?"  
My eyes flashed and I smiled. "Alright," I said.  
So my friendship with Spike began. Some of my best times were with him. I even told him that he was my best friend and he said he was honored to be my friend. Then some strange things happened.  
  
I got older and more mature. I went through all of elementary school and middle school. As I entered high school, my friendship with Spike was beginning to disintegrate. I had made other friends over the years. There had been many changes in my life and personality; I had developed into a popular girl at school. I was kind of snobby though. But something soon changed my life at Hemfry High, my whole life.  
Into every generation, a chosen one is born. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.  
I was the slayer. I was the one girl in the world that fought the evil perils that came forth on this earth. And I did. I had to move to Sunnydale, California from L.A. in my sophomore year of high school. I made some great friends, and won some amazing battles. The Master, my lover, Angel, who turned evil because of a curse, the mayor, Adam, Glory, even my best friend, Willow. After facing Willow, I thought I had been through the worst, but I was wrong.  
I had gotten together with Spike that sixth year of being the slayer in Sunnydale. He had been there the second year, came back briefly in my third, then stayed after he came back once again in my fourth. He was good again, fighting on the light. That first time seeing him when I moved to Sunnydale was terrifying. He was evil, fighting against me. We were enemies until about the fifth year when he fell in love with me, or so he told me. I didn't really know what love was. I had cut myself off from the world because I was the slayer. I never really let Spike get too close to me like when I was younger. Sure, I'd give him my body, and I'd have his, but that's all it was. 'Having each other'. I wouldn't let myself love him. I kept telling myself that he was bad and evil, that's what my friends told me too. It wasn't until that seventh year that I started realizing, no, admitting to myself the love I had for him. His soulful self.  
Spike got his soul back for me. He told me he got it so I could get what I deserved and I could love him. That year my friends and I went up against the First. The First evil. It was sure one hell of a battle. We were getting ready for the final showdown when I finally started showing my love for Spike. Then I received an amulet from Angel that was to be worn by 'a champion', I couldn't think of anyone more champion-like than Spike. We didn't know what the necklace would do, only that it had great powers. So we went to war with the First.  
I had a pretty good plan. Willow was going to use magic to turn the scythe I had stolen into power to distribute to any potential slayer in the whole world, so that there would be slayers everywhere. That would help with defeating the First's army of uber-vamps. We just needed a way to destroy them all. And we got it. Spike.  
Spike, wearing the amulet was the key to beating the First. The amulet turned the wearer into enough energy and power to demolish the First, and the whole town of Sunnydale. But everything comes at a price to pay. I still remember those moments before all of Sunnydale caved in. Everyone else had ran to safety. Everyone except Spike and I. He was just standing in the Hellmouth, radiating such a powerful light, slowly burning up. Slowly dying. "I love you," I finally told him. After so long I finally admitted it to him, the feelings that I had felt. He answered, "No you don't, but thanks for saying it." And those words that he spoke to me, those last words he told me before he died, before he completely sacrificed himself to save the world, and me, will always stay with me. For eternity.  
I had to go, though. That's what he wanted me to do. So I went. As I looked down upon what used to be Sunnydale with my friends, I think about something I had told Angel; cookie dough. The realization of what happened, slayers throughout the world, a chance for me to finally take a break, slowly sinks in as I try not to think about my champion.  
  
Soon, everything started to blur. Nothingness filled my mind for an instant, then, just as quickly as it had come, disappeared. And I was in some sort of.hospital. No, not a hospital, an asylum. Why was I in an insane asylum? I frantically looked around. The doctor looked at me like I was a miracle. Maybe I was a miracle. "Where am I?" I asked shakily. The doctor smiled. "You're in a psychiatric asylum. Your parents are here, Buffy." He pointed to my dad and my. no, it couldn't be, I thought. My mom had died my fifth year living in Sunnydale. Wait, it was starting to come back to me. I had visited this place in my sixth year, but.but it hadn't been real, had it? I had flashes back and forth between the two realities, but this time, I stayed in one place. It meant I was stuck. This was real. "What's going on?" I was so confused. "Buffy, you've been in an insane asylum for the last seven years. A little over seven, actually. Your father and I brought you here when you started telling us about vampires when you were in tenth grade," My mom told me. "There had been one time over a year ago that we had gotten through to you, but that didn't last, the doctors thought they had lost you. You started getting better this year, though, and we knew there was hope. We're so happy you're back, Buffy. You don't know how long we've waited for this day." "So, you and dad aren't divorced, we live in L.A. and there aren't any vampires?" I knew it sounded stupid. "That's right. We're all glad this day finally came," My dad said. I smiled. After that last battle, I figured I could have a pretty normal life. I just didn't know how normal. "Me too." After a few days, I was finally allowed to return home with my parents. I had a normal life, no supernatural forces or slayers or vampires. A part of me still felt like I didn't have what I wanted, though. My life would never be the same. As I arrived home I got situated in my old room. Everything was the same it had been before I had become the slayer. Before I thought I had become the slayer. When I finished dinner, I went to sit out on the porch. It was raining outside, but I liked it. I was staring off into space when I heard a rustle in the bushes near the tree in my front yard. I went to go see what it was. As I was about to push back the bush, I felt a body slam me to the soggy ground. I reflexively tried to kick him off, but then remembered I didn't really have any slayer strength. I looked up at the person on top of me. I instantly froze. Blue. Blue eyes were staring down at me. Bleached blond hair was glimmering under the moon's cast. He got off me, cocked his head to the side and said, "Been a while, hasn't it, love?" I couldn't stop them if I tried. Burning tears were streaming down my face. They were a mix of shock, confusion, happiness, and love. "Spike." "That'd be me. Glad to see you remember." "How could I forget? How'd you.?" "Don't ask. Some things even I can't explain." "This world." I started. "It's different, I know. There's a lot of things different. It's the same, though, in ways." Spike stared at me intently. "What do you mean?" I asked curiously. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out," he answered wryly with a smirk. I laughed. Spike hadn't really changed, I was glad. Then I put a serious face on. "I meant what I said." He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "About this place being different?" "No. That night. The night we won the battle. The night you saved us, saved me. I meant what I said that night." "And refresh a bloke's memory, 'cause I don't exactly remember what you said," Spike pressed on. I sighed deeply. "I said that I loved you. I do love you." I looked into Spike's eyes. "I love you too, Buffy." He leaned down and kissed me tenderly. We stood there, in my front yard, in the cold night's pouring rain, kissing. And as I pulled back from Spike after feeling his heartbeats to look into his blue eyes, I did not see them. I only saw that abstract face and yellow, glowing eyes staring back at me.  
  
In the middle of this 'normal' world, Spike had his mean face on.  
  
Here endeth the story  
  
So, that was it. How'd you like it? Or did you like it? Leave a review if you want. I won't kill you if you don't. At least I don't think I will..*grins* 


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